Madam, - While leafing through my library I recently chanced upon an excerpt from The Complete Yes Minister, the book of the famous TV series, which struck me as being as apt today as it was then.
The quote ran: "Hacker himself processed events in a number of ways, and the readers will have to make their own judgment as to whether any given statement represents (a) what happened (b) what he believed happened (c) what he would would like to have happened (d) what he wanted others to believe happened (e) what he wanted others to believe that he believed happened".
I wonder where on this list are we with Bertie and the tribunals? - Yours, etc,
FERGAL TRACE, Barons Hall Park, Balbriggan, Co Dublin.
Madam, - With regard to Bertie Ahern's High Court challenge to the Mahon tribunal and his assertion that he is simply defending the dignity of the Irish Constitution, was it not Samuel Johnson who wrote: "Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel"? - Yours, etc,
MARY O'CARROLL, Gledswood Avenue, Clonskeagh, Dublin 14.